2016 WY elk

BuzzH

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 9, 2001
Messages
17,270
Location
Laramie, WY
What a crazy elk season for me this year in Wyoming.

A buddy and I tried a unit that I know holds some great bulls, but access is a real monster. There isn't tons of public, but enough to make it possible to kill elk. In researching the area, we were told that a couple landowners can be a real PITA to deal with. I called one of them and asked to cross a small section of road to make access easier to the public beyond...no dice. My buddy called him a few days before our hunt and asked again...not happening. The landowner actually tried everything in the book to dissuade us from hunting the area. We were hunting there regardless, as you can access it by simply walking around the small piece of private to access the public.

I couldn't hunt early, but managed to get out the first part of November for a couple days and could have killed 2 decent 6 points in the 270-280 range. Thinking that it could only get better, I decided to hold off.

My buddy came down and we met to drive the county road into the area we wanted to hunt and were greeted with this sign, that wasn't there when I hunted it in early November. This IS a county road, and this sign was illegally placed right in the middle of it.

1111161407.jpg

I immediately called the GF and sent them the picture along with GPS coordinates and told them I was driving around the sign and had no intentions of honoring this chicken chit move by an out of control landowner. I have no doubt that he put the sign there in response to the phone calls that my buddy and I made to him asking for permission to cross that small sliver of private...no doubt about it.

Anyway, we set camp up and hunted for a few days then had to go into town to get a spare tube for one of our mountain bikes that we were using for access...mysteriously the sign was gone???

Apparently the sheriff's office was contacted and he was told to remove the sign unless he was willing to pay for a survey of the county road. His argument was that the county road has "drifted" over the years and is off the easement. But, he has no proof of that. Of course it didn't slow him down from illegally posting the existing county road to essentially harass hunters and impede access to public lands. It also bothers me that all he had to do was remove the sign and wasn't issued a citation for his illegal actions.

After a few more days of hunting, and after the issue with the road and all...I was intent on going home with an elk.

We ran into a herd, my friend shot a spike and I shot a cow.

Shot was close, about 90 yards, one shot with my 7-08, elk took 4 or 5 steps and done.

1115161515.jpg
 
Good for you BuzzH for standing fast in the face of punks trying to intimidate you out of our public lands. Shame on them for trying. I too wish there was some sort of consequence for the harasser.
 
Nice cow! I ran into the same thing in Wyoming this year. I was 99% sure the road I was trying to use to access the public land was a county road but, it was posted as private. Not wanting to go to jail 1750 miles from home, I didn't push the issue.
 
Congrats Buzz. That sign would probably be enough to dissuade 95% of hunters.

If roads can "drift," too bad one doesn't drift around that small spur of private..
 
Good story- glad they made him pull the sign. Can't believe that an action like illegal posting of a public road as private land doesn't come with at least some sort of ticket.
 
Congrats Buzz. Once your honey hole quits producing, you should hand that "secret" out to a few people so that the road keeps getting use from hunters :) LOL
That would be the sweetest justice that landowner could be served....big ol' dose of heartburn!
 
Good job Buzz
I've had the same experience with that same landowner, luckily i had a gps in hand when he confronted me.
 
Good move, Buzz. What a piece of crap that guy is. There seems to be a lot of that out west. I am headed out to Rawlins today for a go at cows in 111. There is a lot of locked access out there.
 
Sitka Gear Turkey Tool Belt

Forum statistics

Threads
111,116
Messages
1,947,576
Members
35,033
Latest member
Leejones
Back
Top